The present invention relates to the field of incontinence management, specifically BM incontinence, and the associated personal care products such as diapers, training pants, adult incontinence products and the like.
Personal care products have evolved considerably in the area of preventing urine leakage, but little has been done to address the concern of BM leakage which is often a much more inconvenient problem than urine leakage.
Both urine and BM leakage have been addressed with features such as leg cuffs which appear to reduce leg BM leakage somewhat. If sufficient void volume does not exist to contain the BM within the product, however, this fluid will escape out the back or front of the product, or even over the side of the leg cuff and out the leg opening. Even the best leg cuff design cannot contain BM where there is insufficient void volume in the product to contain it. Hence, one problem that remains is that of providing the necessary void volume inside a personal care product to contain the BM.
Another need related to the issue of BM containment is the need to keep the personal care product volume very low prior to use. Modern packaging techniques significantly compress the products, e.g. diapers, so that transportation costs, shelf space, storage space required of the consumer, etc., are minimized. A successful BM containment device or system must keep the pre-use volume of personal care products low.
Further, it is well known that BM contacting the skin is a major factor influencing diaper rash due to enzymatic irritants in the BM. This detrimental effect is made more severe when these irritants interact with urine. Minimizing contact of BM with the skin, and minimizing intermixing of the BM with urine are two skin-health benefits a BM containment system should address and are objects of this invention.
Finally, a BM containment system should provide a visual signal that the personal care product has been insulted with BM, alerting the caretaker of the need to change the product.
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a BM (feces) containment system for personal care products which keeps the product pre-use volume low. It is a further object of this invention to provide sufficient void volume within the product in which to contain BM in order to reduce the possibility of BM leakage outside the product. It is a further object of this invention to provide a visual signal that a personal care product with the BM containment system of this invention has been insulted. It is a further object of this invention to minimize contact of BM with the skin, as well as minimize intermixing of the BM with the urine.
The objects of this invention are achieved by a BM containment system for personal care products having an expandable material which expands upon contact with fluids to form a compartment in which BM may be contained. The BM containment system may optionally have a dewatering layer on the side away from a wearer of the personal care product. The system is in liquid isolation from other personal care product components (which are located on the side away from a wearer) in order to keep the BM containment system from expanding from exposure to urine. Liquid isolation may be provided by a film between the other system components and the traditional personal care product components.